Attorney Greene's death leaves vacancy on O'Reilly Auto board

The recent death of Springfield attorney Joe C. Greene has left O'Reilly Automotive Inc. short a key member of its board of directors.

Greene died May 8, according to the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association. He practiced law for 47 years, most recently with Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP.

He also served on the boards for other local companies, including Bass Pro Shops and Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co., according to his obituary in the Springfield News-Leader.

O'Reilly has received a written notification from the Nasdaq Stock Market noting that Greene's death leaves the Springfield-based public company's board short an independent director. Nasdaq rules state that the company needs a majority of its directors to be independent; it currently has eight directors, four of whom are independent, according to an O'Reilly news release.

Nasdaq allows a "cure period" for O'Reilly to regain compliance. The deadline to do so is the company's next annual shareholder meeting, or May 8, 2010.

"The board intends to identify candidates to replace Mr. Greene and appoint a new director who satisfies the independence requirements of the Nasdaq listing rules prior to the expiration of the cure period," the company said in the release.

In the meantime, the board has selected Paul R. Lederer, an existing independent director, to fill Greene's position as chairman of the board's Corporate Governance/Nominating Committee.